Introduction

This purpose of this website is to provide information about Homeland Security and Homeland Defense initiatives (education and research) being developed at NJIT and its Homeland Security/ Homeland Defense partners.

BUSINESS EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER (BEOC) NEWS:

February 10, 2008 - In December the second exercise conducted by the BEOC was held at NJIT see:
Virtual Hurricane Response Exercise Dec. 2008

Since that time a BEOC Concept Paper was written. The next exercise planned to test BEOC systems and technologies will be Ardent Sentry 2008, a National Level exercise coordinated by NORAD/NORTHCOM (N/NC).

November 26, 2007- The Looking Glass After Action Report Nov. 2007 can be accessed here as well as through the "Exercises" menu. Remember this was the first in a series of exercises designed to develop a Business Emergency Operations Center (BEOC) prototype. The second exercise (Dec. 12 and 13) hosted by NJIT will be virtual and will be used to further test the technologies and systems that can contribute to "situational awareness", "shared situational awareness", and the development of a "common operating picture" between private and public sector collaborators during a hurricane response scenario. For further information about the BEOC "action research" program see the Emergency Response by Wire extended abstract. If your organization wishes to participate in the BEOC project in December and/or during 2008 contact me at chumer@njit.edu.

November 1, 2007- My ASIS presentation can be downloaded here Presentation

October 26, 2007 - On Oct . 17 and Oct. 18 NJIT and the NJ Business Force, a Business Executives for National Security (BENS) organization, hosted an exercise called "Looking Glass". This was part of TOPOFF 4 and was designed to encourage the "private sector" to participate in the National Exercise program. Observers included the DHS (at the Federal level), State OHSP to include the State Exercise team, State DOH, Port Authority NY/NJ, and Hudson County OEM. The exercise also tested remote communication to NORTHCOM and corporations that included AIG. An after action report is being developed and it's abstract will be posted on this website.



In addition to the 2 day exercise was a test of technologies and systems that are planned to be integrated into a Business Emergency Operations Center (BEOC) that will be prototyped as both a physical and virtual entity. The technologies tested include:
1. Notifications and Alerts - NC4
2. Incident Management Support - Business Resource Network
3. Desk Top Video Conferencing (synchronous virtual collaboration) - Marratech

Future BEOC systems/ technologies that will be explored include datacasting and intelligence analysis technologies to include data and text mining.

California Wildfires - The exercise was timely because the Business Resource Network technology is being used in support of the response effort in California.